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Title: Teachers with SecretsEmitter: AdrianCharacters: TycheNPCs: Mr. TurnerPlace: Walker Hall, Steranko InstituteTime: Afternoon, July 7, 2010Summary: Tyche returns to campus from earlier investigations. When she goes to talk to Mr. Turner, she winds up eavesdropping on his conversation, then getting a little advice.

4:30 p.m. July 7, 2010. Wednesday.
Day One.

People have been wondering what happened to Adrian and Mariscka. Did the two run off together? Did something happen to them? Foul play? The pair have been missed on campus, not only by their friends but by the faculty and staff of the Steranko Institute. Coach Mason is annoyed that Adrian didn't show for Powers Training or for baseball practice. 'Ma' Frankel thinks the boy is staging a protest against her food choices. There are others with their own thoughts and worries. One of them is Mr. Turner, the Heroism and Ethics teacher. He's in his office in Walker Hall right now and on the phone.

Whoever he's speaking to, it is with a voice raised loud enough to be heard through his closed door. "That was NOT what I meant Roarke and you know it! Charlotte wouldn't want this!" There is a pause of listening, followed by another outburst. "There could have been another way! If you had given me a little bit of time, I could have developed a rapport with— It's not like that. It's nothing like that! You don't know that they have any connection to him and even if they did…"

Tyche has been back all of five minutes. While Wilberforce is busy changing his clothes, she has decided to take a sidetrek from finding Linus to talk to her ethics teacher again. Except that phonecall doesn't sound exactly like the kind one walks in on. So instead, she remains just by the door. Listening. After a moment's pause, she closes her eyes and tries to Listen mentally, as well.

"Don't call me that," Mr. Turner tells whoever it is he's talking to. "I've chosen my side and so have you. You might claim to be a neutral party, but what you're doing is completely unethical." There is a long pause now and the sound of something in the office breaking. Something large. "I DO CARE ABOUT HER! I blame myself every day for what happened with Void. She might act like she's fine with giving it all up to teach art and impact the lives of future heroes, but I know she thinks about it all the time working here. She would give up a lot to have her powers back, but I know for a fact that this isn't the way she would go about it. I was speaking in a hypothetical and you know it. You KNOW it."

Tyche concentrates a little harder. All to no avail. Frustrated, she sighs and opens her eyes, then steps around the corner and into the room. "How's Torrent?" she asks curiously as she slides into the chair across from his desk and takes a seat, legs crossed, frustration clearly written in every little line of her face.

As Tyche opens the door and comes into the room, she can see that Mr. Turner's desk is broken. Completely in half. The computer, papers, and other miscellaneous belongings that were on it are scattered everywhere. Someone is apparently a lot stronger than they look. He has the phone to his ear and his back turned to the door. "I AM CALM!" he snaps into the receiver, then draws a breath actually trying to sound that way, "Think about what you're doing. Revenge is not the way to…" the man turns to look over his shoulder when Tyche speaks and he becomes aware of her presence. He holds up a finger, his expression dark and almost dangerous. "I have a student here. This conversation isn't over. You make this right, because if you don't you aren't going to like it when I come to do it myself." He hangs up the cordless phone and tosses it onto the splintered pile that used to be a really nice mahogony desk.

"Miss Spiros, I don't know how they do it in the wealthy circles you're used to running in, but around here it's considered rude to enter a person's office without knocking first. If you're referring to the Torrent that was a former student here, I haven't the slightest idea. The last I heard, he had decided to live a normal life down in Richmond."

"Yeah, well," Tyche motions to the desk, "it's not really about the wealthy circles so much as the stressful times. Adrian and Mariscka have been kidnapped, and are probably being researched on to make a super-drug to invest worldwide militaries with the ability to make the perfect mind-reading power-nullifying super-soldier. Meanwhile, you're the only professor on campus who even seems agitated."

"I assure you that I am not the only professor agitated on campus," the man says with a tight smile. He pulls the other chair that was in front of his now destroyed desk so that it's facing Tyche and sits in it. "I've just never been all that successful at controlling my temper when the right buttons are pushed. Some of the other teachers are looking into Mr. Young and Miss Emil's absence, Miss Spiros. They aren't the first students to decide to skip classes and run off from campus. What in heaven's name makes you think that they've been kidnapped or that they're being experimented on? I know you're worried about your friends, but now really isn't the time to be jumping to wild conclusions about them. They'll be found. Runaways always are."

Tyche just stares at him for a long moment, then leans forward. "You don't believe me because of the Superman report, huh?" she asks. "Or is it because you think I'm crazy, too?" She frowns, then says, "I think it because it's the truth. Adrian went to work last night. He was there until some hot-shot villain magician named Torrent came and started a fight. Adrian, and Sunday, and Linus, and Mariscka, and maybe a few others all tried to stop him, and Adrian and Mariscka wound up getting teleported out by him."

Mr. Turner shakes his head and the first hint of a smile shows on his face when she mentions the Superman report. "Miss Spiros, the Superman report was actually one of the better papers from that assignment. I don't think you're crazy. I'm well aware of what is documented in your student file, but just because something is written in a file doesn't mean it's the whole truth and it certainly doesn't give you the whole picture." The teacher falls quiet to listen to her, however, frowning thoughtfully. "Hot-shot villain magician. See, there's a case and point example. If it's the same Torrent that was a student here a few years ago, then the file the school has on him is inaccurate. Terrence Dewitt-Bukater graduated in 2002 and while he became quite adept at using his abilities, I think most of the faculty here were surprised when he decided not to use them after graduation and instead chose a more mundane route. If it's the same young man, then he decided to use them nefariously and did a good job of maintaining a secret identity."

He reaches across the distance between them to take one of Tyche's hands, looking at her with concern. "If what you're saying about Adrian and Mariscka is true— and I believe you —then, the teachers that are looking into it will find them. And they will get them back. They'll both be okay. I know you're worried. I promise you that I will personally go and join the group that's looking for them and give them this information."

Tyche sighs and looks towards the smashed desk again, then back to Mister Turner's face. "Great," she says quietly. "Wil and I are going to head down to Baltimore in a bit. He thinks there's a tie in to a … Scion Pharmaceuticals. Look, isn't it possible that if they're sending metas out to kidnap students, they're also willing to brainwash other students? Couldn't your Torrent have been brainwashed, too?"

The teacher lifts a hand to pinch his nose between his fingers. "And if there is a connection? Then what do you plan on doing?" Mr. Turner lowers his hand and looks at her. "Tyche, we encourage our students to use their powers for good, but at the same time don't want to encourage them to be reckless. You're here to be in a safe environment to learn how to use your powers. If I told you to stay put and let the adults handle it though, I know you'll probably just ignore me and do it anyway. You're a teenager. I was a teenager once too and made my own foolish choices. So, instead I'll tell you and Wil to be careful. Especially if you think that's a possibility. It could be. I don't know. But I don't want more of my students going missing. Understand?"

Finally! Sound, logical, rational advice. "Mister Turner, I don't want to be a superhero," she promises him quietly. "But Adrian's out there, somewhere, and probably hasn't eaten since last night. He's diabetic. He needs food. Maybe I'm just foolishly arrogant, but if I can help him, I /have/ to try. And if we get to him, and he's in a sugar coma, I may be the only one who can bring him out safely without relying on expensive medical procedures that his family can't really afford. I'll be careful. I promise. But I can't just sit around and do nothing."

Mr. Turner's mouth compresses into a thin line, his whole expression tightening. And beneath the striped cotton dress shirt the man wears, Tyche can probably see his biceps flex as he balls up his fists. He closes his eyes and draws a breath, then releases it, forcing himself to untense. "I care about my students Tyche. Even after they've graduated. I care about the choices that they make. What happens to them after they graduate, I don't have any impact on what happens to them once they've left this campus to start their adult lives. After that, I've done all I can and armed them with whatever knowledge I could. But for the short time they're here? I feel personally responsible for each of you. Your parents send you here expecting this to be a safe environment where you can learn control and…" The man shakes his head. "I don't expect you to sit back and do nothing when you think you can help. That's part of being a hero, whether you're 'super' or not. When you have the power to help, you have to make that moral choice to make."

He reaches out to take Tyche's hands again if she'll let him, "Adrian will be okay. One way or another he'll be okay. And if his medical condition is… bad… when he's found and he does require medical treatment, then I'll do everything in my power to see that the school does something for him. It's our responsibility to keep you kids safe and we've obviously failed that." The man looks up at the wall clock and frowns. He gives Tyche's hands a squeeze and stands up, "I hate to do this, but we have a staff meeting. I imagine a good portion of it is going to involve discussing Miss Emil and Mr. Young's absense. If— when —you go to Baltimore, be careful."

Tyche offers her professor as much a smile as she can manage. But her mind is off somewhere else; probably an internal argument with the evil devil sitting on her shoulder. "I will," she says a few moments later, then stands up. "I'm sorry I forgot to knock … and for interrupting your phonecall. I hope…" she trails off. "I hope your friend makes the right choice," she offers him, before turning to go.